Criminal underworld controlling steroid trade - Wada

Not boxing related exactly but as there are a lot of posters interested in PED usage i thought this might be of interest. from bbc sport http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/9426982.stm The criminal underworld "controls a significant proportion of world sport", according to World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) director general David Howman. He told a doping conference at Twickenham that the criminal elements in illegal betting were also involved in steroid trafficking. He added there was more money made in trafficking performance-enhancing drugs than in dealing heroin. "It's not just my impression, it's my opinion based on fact," said Howman. Howman said those facts had come from his sources at Interpol and law enforcement agencies, "some of whom are actively engaged in projects that are trying to address the issue". "They say the underworld is involved in betting, in distributing steroids and it's the same jokers, it's not anybody new," he added. "I have been saying this for five or six years and now Interpol are justifying it. They now have the numbers and the information and they are really worried about it." Howman also told the conference, convened by the World Sports Law Report, there was evidence of attempts to bribe doping control officers. He also claimed there were inadequacies in testing and analysis. "We're not collecting enough blood," he told BBC Sport. "The scarcity of testing concerns me." In addition, Howman claimed some scientists at doping laboratories were turning a blind eye to borderline cases. He said: "It's human nature. You get a borderline case and you think, 'what are the implications going to be ? It's going to be challenged, therefore I am going to be before a tribunal, I'm going to be rigorously cross-examined, I'm days away from the office'. All those sorts of things go through a human's mind." Using the example of Marion Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Olympics and later admitted to using drugs over a seven-year period despite never failing a test, Howman suggested different countries should test each other. "Why don't we get France to drug test Germany and Germany to drug test France?" he said. "Perhaps there would be more enthusiasm for catching cheats from another country." Howman added that while Wada had had its successes, drug cheats were becoming more sophisticated and difficult to spot. "We're doing some things better but so are they," he said i find the bold hard to believe. But it highligts the vast usage of PEDs today in sport.